Who is the Antichrist? What does the Bible say about the Antichrist?

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Who is the Antichrist? What does the Bible say about the Antichrist?

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The Bible prophesies an end-time figure who opposes Christ—the Antichrist—but the meaning of the term antichrists encompasses more than just the end time. This term literally means "against Christ" and is variously defined as "adversary of Christ" or "opponent of Christ" and as a title or proper name for a specific individual who opposes and claims to be Christ.

The Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains by Louw and Nida offers a more comprehensive definition:

"The term . . . appears to have become increasingly equivalent to a proper name as the personification of all that was opposed to and contrary to the role and ministry of Christ."

According to the apostle John's writing, there is a spirit of antichrist, which is a spirit of opposition to the identity of Christ. Specifically, he was writing to warn of the dualistic heresy that denied that Christ lived as a physical human being (1 John 4:3; 2 John 1:7).

The Bible does not reveal specifically who the Antichrist is, speaking instead of his corrupt teachings. 

In the first century, most people of Jewish background anticipated a Messiah who would come to the earth as a conquering king to establish the Kingdom of God. But they failed to understand that He would first come as a man who would become the sacrifice for the sins of mankind, and they refused to accept Jesus as the Messiah. (The word Messiah is the Hebrew counterpart to the Greek word Christ.) Their doctrine was an example of a spirit of antichrist.

Today, many members of mainstream Christianity make the opposite mistake from the one that the Jews made by accepting that Christ became the perfect sacrifice for sin but denying His coming to the earth as a conquering king. So ironically, even that traditional Christian doctrine can be classified as "antichrist."

End-time prophecies show that religious people—including professing Christians deceived into accepting a counterfeit Christianity—will oppose many of the teachings of Christ. In that real sense, even today, many professing Christians actually have been deceived by a spirit of antichrist.

The Bible does not reveal specifically who the Antichrist is, speaking instead of his corrupt teachings. In 2 Thessalonians 2, Paul prophesied of a "man of sin," a liar and deceiver whose natural abilities Satan enhances by supernatural power in order to confuse people in the end time. In addition, Christ inspired John to write of a "false prophet" to come at the end time (Revelation 13:1-18; Revelation 16:13; Revelation 19:20).

Finally, note how the prophecy describes a great religious leader of the end time: "He had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon" (Revelation 13:11). That is to say, he takes on the image of (or imitates) Jesus Christ (the Lamb of God), but is empowered by Satan. Historically, a counterfeit version of Christianity fulfills the types we read of in the prophecies of Revelation.

Search ucg.org for more information about the Antichrist, False Prophet, "man of sin" and the prophesied false teachers at the end of the age.

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Comments

  • suzyQ

    Reverand Jim, you have wrongly accused John D Lawrence of being a Trinitarian. His first paragraph is an explanation of the Trinty. The second paragraph is a condemnation of the Trinity. Please read both paragraphs again. I think both of you are out of touch with how God feels about his son and the Holy Ghost. As a Pentecostal I was taught that "The Father, The Son and The Holy Ghost go hand in hand. Of course The Father is The Greater of the three. This is from the mouth of Jesus Christ himself. Luke 12: 8 says "And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of Man(Jesus) it shall be forgiven him; but against him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost it SHALL NOT be forgiven." I was taught that God, Jesus and the Holy Ghost are the 3 main powers in the Universe. This is not false doctrine as it is in THE HOLY BIBLE. Don't allow Satan to turn you against any of the three(Holy Trinity)as they work together, don't allow him to convince you to separate them and to call their alliance evil. But be wary of the coming "Unholy Trinity" of the Antichrist(a leader of a country), The Dragon(a leader of a country) and The False Prophet(leader of a Church). This trinity is evil!

  • LLady

    My problem that I've been having is I've always heard the Anti-Christ would be of European descent but the Jewish people are looking for a Jewish Messiah to come yet the scripture says in Rev 24:24 "For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. Wouldn't a Jew be more capable of deceiving a Jew if your expecting a Jewish Messiah?

  • Josem6768

    Yes the Antichrist could an European descent and at same time could have close ties to Jew by the marriage kind.

  • drsammour

    Muslims beleive that at the end of days Jesus will come again and before his return the anti christ will come and he is called the false messaiah or the deceiver whome will be impowered by super natural power by the satan, he will pretend that he is the God, he will order the clouds to rain, give order to the earth to bring its treasures out to the people who believe in him and let the disbelievers to face their fate with poor and dryness. He will let dead people to come back to life and he will conquer the whole earth and will lead the world from jeruslum, but will not be able to enter Macca and Madinah. He will have the Mark between his eyes and his believers as well. The real christ Jesus will come after he control the entire earth and few people will believe in him including muslims because he will be prophet of God and jesus will kill the anti christ at Lod city in palestine.
    The sign that prophet Mohammed mentioned to distinguish him and fo know that he is not the real God is that, he is single eyed, one of his eyes is like dry grape.

  • HisChildaboveallelse

    The more I learn the less I know. We are here to discuss the article above, right? If you read it, you will KNOW that the Anti-Christ has not yet come. There are so many important issues to discuss but I will try to stay on topic. If you believe that God sent His son, that Jesus died and rose again. That you confess your sins with your mouth, ask for forgiveness, and leave the judging for God to do you will be saved. I don't care which church you go to or what else you believe because that is what is most important. I will be praying for all mankind.

  • Reverend Jim

    @ Christopher J Byrum, @ James D Feitsam, @ Nick Bavea,
    NOT ONE VERSE of end-time prophecy supports Catholicism or Mormonism emerging in the last days as any of the beast. The evidence is quite clear, EVERY nation mentioned in God's Word is today Arab, Persian, and MUSLIM!
    Celebrating Christmas or Easter has absolutely NOTHING to do with any of this. The Pope has nothing to do with the end-times. NOBODY worships the POPE! They revere him.
    Maybe you guys should look where the scriptures point! ISLAM! Do any of you know ANYTHING about Islam, the most evil, anti-Christ religion on planet earth? Do you know,
    Around the octagonal structure of the Dome of the Rock is a long classical Arabic inscription that says that God has no begotten son, thus denying that Jesus is the Son of God? Many mosque also have the same inscription.
    Have you ever seen the natural image of Satan in the marble from the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem that developed over time?
    We believe that Jesus Christ takes away our sins and is the Rock of Ages and the chief cornerstone of the Churches foundation. Did you know that Muslim's bow toward a black rock in Mecca 5 times a day? Want more evidence?

  • Josem6768

    I don’t understand what evidence you are talking about. Muslims do not believe in Christ as the savior and son of God. Catholics worship images and Jews don’t believe in Jesus as the son of God.

  • Confused49

    The Pope may not be the anti-Christ to you, but he is one of many to me. In a very recent article, the Pope was meeting with Muslim leaders discussing how there is a need for a One World Religion! Why would a supposed Christian be talking with them about that when Christianity and the religion of Islam have different beliefs? To Muslims, Jesus is just a prophet who will supposedly return and say that he lied and is not the Messiah! We should be more aware of Islam. I do believe that Islam will be the death of a great many Christians who will refuse to convert. We must be watchful!

  • roachefiedscum

    you have a point. Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son.

  • Lorajackson005

    Trump is the Anti-Christ.

  • Christian Soldier

    Try reading your bible. If you did, you would know what a non-Christian like statement yours really is.

  • Reverend Jim

    There should be a distinction between the 7 headed 10 horned beast in Rev. 13:1-10...
    Rev. 13:1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
    ...and the two horned beast in Rev. 13:11...
    And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
    The 10 horned beast isn't a worldwide coalition of nations. It's an Islamic Caliphate of 10 nations and 7 kings situated in the Arab Mid-East and operation in the Dome area or Al'aqsa mosque. Islam wants the Dome of the Rock area as the headquarters of their worldwide Islamic caliphate. This is the anti-Christ...
    And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
    The two horned beast represents the false prophet. The two horns represent the Shia and Sunni sects of Islam. The Islamic false prophet only imposses the mark of the beast (which is the Islamic zebiba) within the 10/7 alliance of nations. They both are inspired and empowered by Satan the dragon.

  • Christian Soldier

    I agree on some of your points, namely the fact that the two horned beast is actually the ram spoken of by Daniel 8:1-4. The ram represents the kings of Media, and Persia, which I believe indeed are the Shia, and Sunni sects of Islam. I disagree w/ your statement, "The Islamic false prophet only imposes the mark of the beast (which is the Islamic zebiba) within the 10/7 alliance of nations." That statement is false. Revelation 13:16-18: And he causeth ALL, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy and sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six. Nowhere in the scriptures does it state that the mark is only limited to the 10/7 alliance you speak of. In fact scripture disputes what you say, it says ALL people. If the scriptures in Revelation are in chronological order, the mark of the beast comes after the 7 trumpet judgments, which is long after Christ has raptured his church.

  • Cbyrum

    What about the papacy?
    If u look on TV millions of people flock to the streets to "worship" the pope and he's a mortal man.

    Also consider that Constantine put a Sunday law together in AD 321 and the catechism if Catholicism states that observing Sunday isn't biblical which is what we as protest ant's should adhere 2

  • Christian Soldier

    Yes, the actual Sabbath is on Saturdays, not Sundays. Sunday as the Sabbath was changed by Constantine and embraced by the Roman Catholic Church. Sunday is actually the first day of the week. Jews also worship on Saturday I believe.

  • Jfietsam

    Could it be the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints with their false prophets?

    It would make sense couldn’t it? They may not even know it.

  • nbavea

    Yes, I believe that you are on a very good point there James. Not only do they prophesy about Jesus' 2nd coming to the Ancient Americans, they also encourage the pagan celebrations of Christmas and Easter. Jesus only appeared again to the followers in the book of Acts in a human form and ascended into Heaven in a spiritual form to the way I understand it. He will come again when we die to judge the living and the dead as stated in the bible & his kingdom will have no end. I promise you as a returning member of the Christian Democratic Party that you'll rest in Heaven when you die as a true believer.

  • Micart

    I think the antichrist is A.I. .
    Artificial Intelligence

  • Reverend Jim

    How do you arrive at that conclusion? Where is that found in scripture, and how would that fulfill the events mentioned in Mathew 24 and the entire book of Revelation? I think you need to reconsider.

  • ajohndlawrence

    who is the anti christ?
    Bible is very clear.
    plz do read 1john2:22
    "one who says that Jesus is not the christ is the liar.
    One who denies the Father and the Son is the anti christ"
    Christ means Anointed.
    Then when translated would be "Jesus is Anointed" Psalms 2:2
    if Jesus is the anointed, who anointed HIM?
    yES.. FATHER GOD ANOINTED HIM.
    THEN SURELY FATHER GOD IS BIGGER THAN JESUS CHRIST. ONE WHO SAYS THAT JESUS AND THE FATHER GOD ARE EQUAL IS THE ANTI CHRIST. ---- TRINITARIANS

    ONE WHO DENIES THE FATHER AND THE SON IS THE ANTICHRIST..
    IT IS THE TRINITARIANS WHO DENY THAT THE FATHER IS THE SON AND THE SON IS THE FATHER AND DENIES THE BEAUTIFUL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE FATHER AND THE SON.
    SO THATS IT.. ALL TRINITARIANS ARE ANTICHRISTS :(

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